Caring
by Midnight's Shining Star
Summary: Deidara and Sasori are on a mission. Deidara makes Sasori mad one too many times and ends up in a large amount of trouble! Last request from ilovemyboys (so sorry all of these took so long! T.T) and also a quick peek at my tentative story schedule in the author's notes at the end. T for lang and slight violence.


**A/N: Annnnd finally, the last story requested by ilovemyboys. SO SORRY ALL THESE TOOK SO LONG! (AI! ACCIDENTALLY UPLOADED THE WRONG DOCUMENT! SORRY! DX see...this is why you don't do uploads when you want to sleep...xP)**

**Deidara: So you can throw things at her. Since she took so long and all, un  
Me: Oh shut up. I had school .  
Deidara: School smool, you had these things on your computer for weeks!  
Me: *sweatdrop* uhhhh...  
Deidara: SO THROW THINGS AT MIDNIGHT! UN! :D  
Me: HEY!  
Sasori: -.- The crazy girl doesn't own us.  
Me: WHO ARE YOU CALLING CRAZY PUPPET BOY?  
Me: *chases Sasori with a chainsaw*  
Deidara: *snickering* Enjoy the story all you readers, un!**

* * *

_**Caring**_

* * *

"But Dan-_na_!"

"I told you to shut up brat. I don't have the patience to deal with your antics today."

Deidara grumbled and crossed his arms. They were on a mission. A horribly _boring_ mission, in Deidara's opinion. It involved quite a lot of sitting around, waiting, and observing. Deidara didn't like sitting still, and had made sure Sasori knew this, but it wasn't like he was getting any sympathy from the puppet master. Sasori hated waiting probably even more than he did, but he was still better at sitting quietly in one spot for any length of time. For Deidara, this was pure torture.

Oh, he could watch and wait. That wasn't the problem. The problem was, _they had no idea what or who they were waiting for. _It was driving him insane. He could wait in battle, or on a mission, as long as he knew what he was supposed to be doing. Or, at any rate, as long as he knew _how_ long he had to be there, even if only tentatively. But this? No, this was boring as all hell.

"Why are we ever here again?"

"Because"

"Because why?"

"Just because"

"That doesn't answer anything danna, un"

"Because leader-sama told us to! Now _shut up_!"

Deidara sighed.

"What are we even supposed to be doing, un?"

"Waiting" Sasori growled, as if it was obvious.

"Well duh. But for _what_?"

"For a group of shinobi. Now will you kindly shut up before I decide to cut your tongue out?"

"Geez danna, no need to get so grumpy, un. Anyways, why do we have to wait here? I thought you hated waiting, un. Wouldn't it be easier just to find them? I don't get it"

"You never do, idiot. We have to wait here because it's leader's orders. NOW SHUT UP!"

"Why?"

"Ugh, you little-!"

"No, no, un. I mean, why does leader want us to wait here?"

"I don't know! Those are just his orders"

"So, you don't have reason then?"

"What did I just say?"

"Ok, ok, no need to get so worked up, un. So…why can't we just go and find these shinobi then?"

"Because this is a reconnaissance mission you damn brat!"

"Well why didn't you say so in the first place? That explains a lot more, un"

"Good for you. Now do me a favor and go play with your petty clay or something. I don't have time for this."

Deidara huffed, but dropped the matter. It really wasn't worth it to get Sasori riled up much more. They _were_ on a mission, after all.

But, why hadn't Sasori told him it was reconnaissance? And if that was the case, why were they waiting for a group of shinobi? Were they supposed to tail them or something? Whatever. It would be Sasori's fault if he didn't understand his job.

Deidara pulled out a ball of clay and began to work it with his hands. After a few minutes of this, he looked back towards his partner. He was bored. He wondered what Sasori was doing inside his battle armour, Hiroku, if the puppet master was even doing anything at all. He wondered what it was like inside that puppet. He thought it must be horribly cramped in there. He wondered how Sasori could ever stand it. Deidara knew that he himself certainly didn't like small spaces.

"Sasori no danna?"

"What, brat?"

"What's it like inside that ugly thing, un?" He hadn't quite meant to be so blunt, it just, slipped out.

"Is that _all?" _Sasori asked, obviously annoyed and probably not pleased that Deidara had called Hiroku ugly.

"Well?"

"Just shut up brat"

Deidara frowned.

"Oh come on danna, what's it like?"

"I'm not about to answer such a ridiculous question. Think about it yourself, if you can even do that."

"Whatever"

Deidara grumbled to himself. Sasori was _such_ a killjoy.

Deidara sighed and gazed up at the sky, the sun overhead alerting him that it was just past noon. He glanced around at his other surroundings. Sasori and he were currently hiding out in some tall grass on the outskirts of a small village. The space was rather open, but the grass was so tall that it could hide them easily. Deidara was leaning back against a small tree while he disinterestedly watched the road. It was _so_ boring. There had only been a couple of travelers leaving the village in the six or so hours they had been there.

Lazily, he rolled around his clay and tossed it up in the air a couple of times. Eventually, he molded a couple of quick butterflies and made them explode, silently. He turned to see if Sasori would say something to him, but his partner just ignored the noise, if he had heard it.

"Dan-_na_! I'm bored, un"

"Shut up brat"

"But I'm bored"

"You think I care?"

Deidara's mouth twitched into a frown. Why would Sasori care? Still, he was bored.

"There's nothing to do, un"

"Watch the road"

"But no-one's coming, un! Can't we just tell leader that there's nothing here and leave?"

"No"

"But-"

"No"

"Whatever, un"

A few more minutes went by.

"Sasori-danna?"

"Deidara, I swear if you complain about being _bored_ one more time I'm going to-"

"No, I'm hungry, un" Deidara interrupted. It was true. He hadn't eaten anything since the night before since they'd had no time, according to Sasori, to stop for anything.

"So?"

"So…you have the food, un"

Sasori grumbled a bit. Deidara wondered why Sasori even carried their food supply. He didn't think a puppet would have to eat, but he didn't really care, so long as he got his food when he needed it.

Suddenly, a pack was tossed his way and Deidara caught it just before it flew by him.

"Now I don't want to hear any more complaints!"

Deidara just shrugged. At least he had his food.

A little while after he had finished, he got up.

"What the hell do you think you're doing brat? Sit down! Someone could see you!"

"Relax danna, it's not like there's anyone within a twenty mile radius of this place, un. Besides, I need to stretch."

"_Deidara_"

"What?" Deidara asked innocently. Truth be told, it probably wasn't wise to stand up in the middle of the tall grass. Sasori was right, someone _could_ see him, and it was a bit of an exaggeration to say that there was _no one_ within a twenty mile radius. Still, the odds of him actually being discovered were pretty slim.

"Sit. Down. Now"

"No, un"

Sasori opened his mouth to say something else, but just then, they both sensed some nearby chakra presences. Deidara crouched back down.

_Well finally_

Deidara pinpointed the location of the shinobi and zoomed in on them with his scope.

"This what we're waiting for?" he quietly asked his partner.

Sasori nodded.

"Don't mess this up, brat"

Deidara rolled his eyes but said nothing as he simply watched the shinobi for a bit.

"Soo…we just s'posed to watch them, un?" Deidara asked a moment later.

"They may apparently have some sort of scroll along with other valuables that leader has interest in. We're supposed to observe and report back, nothing more. Leader wants more information so that he can deal with them later."

Deidara frowned as he continued to watch the shinobi. Was that all? It hardly seemed a mission suited for their team. Why didn't leader just send his spy Zetsu to do this, if that's all he wanted?

"Also, they will be exchanging some information with some high level ANBU. We need to find out exactly what that information is _without_ attracting attention. So don't mess this up."

This mission was sounding less appealing by the second. Stealth. Deidara hated stealth. It wasn't that he couldn't do it, he just didn't like it. It didn't suit his style. He'd rather have the enemy know who he was.

Deidara turned his focus back to the shinobi. Sure enough, there were some ANBU talking with them.

"Alright, are you listening, brat? I'm only going to say this once. You saw that scroll they just exchanged? Tail the ANBU and get it. But keep it down. Don't let them know you're there. Can you do that?" Sasori asked, skeptically.

Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, fine. What are you going to be doing, un?"

"I will be following the other shinobi. We still need more information on them. We meet back here in an hour. _Don't_ keep me waiting."

"Whatever you say danna, un."

Deidara got up slowly, still keeping his head ducked under the grass, and began to tail the ANBU. They didn't seem to notice he was there.

_So far so good. Now which one of you has my scroll, hmn?_

He quickly identified the head of the party and knew this was the ANBU who had the scroll. He had seen the exchange.

He began searching his mind for ways to extract the scroll without creating a commotion. Did Sasori know what he was asking? How the hell was he supposed to do this without attracting their attention?

There were only three ANBU, so it wouldn't be that difficult if he had to engage them in battle. Still, the question remained, how was he going to do this without causing a ruckus?

Suddenly, the ANBU stopped. Deidara smirked. Wrong move for them to make.

The ANBU had their backs turned to him and didn't notice as he snuck closer. Soon, he was within an arm's reach of the captain. A few expert moves later, he had the scroll in his possession, as the ANBU talked about which way would be the best to get back to their village.

Deidara frowned. Here was where he was supposed to leave. But this was too easy. The ANBU didn't even know what happened. And he didn't even get to use any of his clay. Though, if he did, Sasori would be bound to hear the explosion and would only berate him later. He should just leave. He did still have to meet Sasori within the one hour deadline.

Unfortunately, his momentary musings proved to be trouble. He hadn't bothered to move from behind the ANBU, though he very well _could_ have, and the moment he sensed one of the ANBU turning, it was too late.

"Akatsuki!" the ANBU shouted, and immediately, the other two whirled around. The captain, being the closest to Deidara, swung his fist around, trying to hit the blonde. Deidara simply hopped back.

"Well now you notice me, un"

The ANBU took up fighting stances.

"What do you want, Akatsuki scum?" the captain demanded.

"Captain! The scroll!" one of the ANBU remarked.

The captain searched for his scroll but found it to be not there. He turned back to the blonde.

"What? Looking for something, un?" Deidara held up the scroll between his thumb and middle finger.

"How did he-" one of the ANBU began, but the captain held up his arm in silence.

"I don't have time to fool around, un. Nice seeing you!"

He turned and ran, and, as expected, the ANBU followed. Deidara smirked and raised his fingers in a hand-seal.

"Bye, un!"

A mighty explosion rocked the area, one that was certain to be heard by Sasori. Oh well. He couldn't have the ANBU following him, now could he?

He hurried back to his meeting place with Sasori. He was going to be late and Sasori wasn't going to be happy. Sure enough, the puppet master was waiting there, a scowl present on his face when Deidara returned.

"Got it, un"

"_Deidara_"

"_What?"_

"What did I say about _not _attracting attention?"

"Hey, they attacked me"

Sasori rolled his eyes.

"Let's go. We can't stick around here, no thanks to you."

Deidara shrugged. At least Sasori wasn't yelling at him.

* * *

"Well, that wasn't so bad, un!"

"Wasn't so bad? That was _horrible!_ You totally disregarded me!"

"Hey, I got the stupid scroll, that's all that matters, right?"

They were travelling back to Akatsuki now, and Sasori wasn't pleased with his younger partner to say in the least.

"No you idiot! This mission was supposed to be kept quiet! No one was supposed to know we were there! Now look what you did!"

"I got rid of the ANBU"

"That's beside the point! What if someone else saw that? You completely blew our cover!"

"It's not like you were any help, un"

"_Deidara"_

Sasori swung Hiroku's tail at the blonde, who just narrowly dodged.

"Nice aim" Deidara snickered.

"Shut up you insolent brat!"

"Make me, un"

Sasori swung the tail at Deidara again, while the blonde only dodged.

"Can't catch me danna, un!" Deidara provoked, laughing madly. In his mind, it wasn't his fault. He'd had to sit still for so long that he needed to release his extra energy.

"Cut it out brat!"

Deidara shrugged. He pulled some clay out of his pocket and began molding it. Eventually, he began making tiny explosives as they walked. Quite by accident, one of them detonated far too close to his partner.

"_Deidara! _You moron! Look what you did!"

Deidara turned to look at the ugly heap of wood his partner was in and saw the scorch marks from the blast as well as some of the wood splintering off.

"Oops, sorry danna. It's not that bad though, you can fix it, un. Then maybe it won't be so ugly"

Sasori growled and Deidara just nearly missed being impaled by Hiroku's tail. He stumbled backwards as he dodged and managed to trip over some sort of root that was hidden in the tall grass.

"Um, danna?"

Sasori swung the tail again, but this time, from his position, he couldn't dodge it quickly enough. The sharp tail penetrated his skin and he gasped as pain erupted from his side.

"D-danna!"

Sasori stopped and looked down at his partner. Deidara groaned as he pushed the sharp metal out of his skin. He knew Sasori coated the thing in poison and he was beginning to feel it already.

He pressed a hand to his side and attempted to shakily stand up.

"O-ohh…" He felt lightheaded and found that he couldn't stand. He fell back as his stomach flopped. He felt _sick_. His skin felt hot and there was a horrible pain spreading through his body. Sasori's poisons really did their job.

"_D-danna…_" he called weakly. The world began to fade in and out. Before he blacked out completely, he saw Sasori, outside of Hiroku, looking at him with what seemed to vaguely be concern.

"O-oh-h…"

* * *

Sasori had known as soon as he swung Hiroku's tail at the brat the second time that nothing good would come. This was confirmed only a few seconds later as he _heard_ Hiroku's tail hit something as well as Deidara's gasp of pain.

"D-danna!" Deidara cried out. His voice a mix of pain and pleading. He stopped. Damn, he hadn't meant to hit the blonde. For goodness' sake the brat was supposed to dodge!

He heard Deidara moan as the blonde pushed the tail out of his side and attempted to stand. It didn't last long. The brat collapsed only seconds later, moaning again and calling for Sasori.

Quickly, Sasori released the seals on Hiruko to let himself out of the puppet and get to his partner. Deidara's eyes were clouded with pain as he attempted to keep himself awake, and Sasori looked on as the brat soon lost consciousness.

He frowned. He wasn't all too pleased with his partner at the moment, but he couldn't leave the brat. For one Pein would yell at him and for two well, he wasn't quite sure he _wanted_ the blonde to die. At least, not while it was his fault.

Cautiously, he pulled Deidara's cloak off in order to have a closer look at the injury. He swore when he saw it. Apparently, Deidara had taken a direct hit. The wound was nasty and there was poison flowing through the blonde's system. One of his newer ones that he hadn't quite had time to develop an antidote for. Well, at least the poison worked, though Deidara wasn't exactly his ideal test subject.

Grumbling the whole time, he pulled out some bandages and wrapped the blonde's injury the best he could with the supplies he had. The wound in and of itself was bad enough, but Sasori also had to worry about the poisoning. He didn't have the time to properly bandage the injury. That is, not if he wanted to get Deidara an antidote in time.

_Stupid brat, getting himself hurt and wasting time. What the hell am I supposed to do with him?_

He ran a hand over Deidara's forehead. The brat was burning up. He cursed again. Gently, so as not to jar the poisoned teen and make the situation worse, he lifted Deidara up and started off. He needed to find some place to leave the blonde to rest while he worked on an antidote. And he needed to do so quickly.

Fifteen minutes into his journey he heard Deidara moaning as the blonde twisted in his arms. He looked down as the brat's eyes fluttered open.

"O-ooh, wha-what-?"

Sasori rolled his eyes.

"You're poisoned, idiot"

Deidara blinked slowly.

"So…"

"So I need to get you an antidote" Sasori snapped gruffly, cutting his partner off. Honestly, didn't the brat have even half a brain cell firing?

Deidara was silent as he let his head rest limply in Sasori's arms. Sasori mumbled incoherently to himself. Truth be told, he was beginning to worry ever so slightly about his partner's condition. He needed to get that antidote quickly.

"D-danna? I-"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear it. It's your fault we're in this mess in the first place! So just _think_ for once, got it?" Sasori growled angrily.

"M'sorry…" Deidara mumbled softly, almost incoherently as he shut his eyes tightly and shuddered with pain.

Sasori almost stopped short. _Sorry?_ The brat was apologizing to _him_? That almost made him feel guilty for snapping at the teen. After all, if he thought about it, it really _wasn't_ Deidara's fault, at least not entirely. He had blame too, though he'd likely never admit it. Sasori's attention turned back to Deidara when the blonde started coughing violently, blood leaking from his mouth.

"Fine" Sasori mumbled back. It was the most Deidara would probably get out of him. He hurried on. He was running out of time.

* * *

Five hours later, Sasori thought things might start looking up. He had managed to find a town and secure a room at an inn. Then he had worked tirelessly to find an antidote to the stupid toxin he had come up with, as well as taking care of his poisoned partner. As he administered the remedy his only thought was, _I hope I'm not too late._

Now the only thing to do was wait. And how he hated waiting. He rand his hand over his partner's forehead once more and was relieved to find that the fever had seemed to have gone down, at least a bit. Deidara also seemed to be breathing slightly easier. At least he wasn't wheezing anymore. Only time would tell whether the antidote had completely done its job, but it looked hopeful.

He turned his attention to Hiroku. While the brat slept he might be able to patch it up…

* * *

_Ohhh, what's going on? Where, am I?_

Deidara opened his eyes slowly, cringing at the sudden light. Once his eyes became adjusted, he looked around. He was lying on a bed in some sort of old inn, or something. He shifted his gaze towards his partner who seemed engrossed in fixing something; probably Hiroku. He sighed softly and turned over on one side. He felt sore, stiff, ill, and tired. But at least it was better than his earlier pain. Sasori was probably pissed at him though. Why the puppet master hadn't just left him for dead was a mystery that was beyond him.

"You're awake"

Sasori's voice startled him into almost sitting up, but he gasped in pain and fell over, clutching at his side at the attempt. Sasori watched with unamused eyes before reaching over and helping the blonde to settle back down. He looked up hazily.

"Seems like the antidote is working, but I wouldn't move around much if I were you. Of course you had to go and take a direct hit. Idiot. Whoever taught you to dodge?"

Deidara wanted to say that it was _Sasori_ who hit him, but decided to remain silent on the matter. His head was killing him and he honestly didn't need his partner to lecture him right now.

"Anyways" Sasori's voice softened a bit, "Watch yourself. You almost died you idiot."

Deidara's eyes widened slightly. Did Sasori _care_? He smirked.

"But you wouldn't have let that happen, huh?"

Sasori mumbled something incoherent.

"Face it danna, you really don't want to kill me, un" His voice came out sounding quiet and scratchy, but he chuckled slightly.

"Shut up brat before I regret my decision. Leader-sama would have been pissed if you died. And I would have been greatly inconvenienced. Nothing more."

"Yeah right"

"Just go to sleep you brat!"

"Alright, fine" Deidara smirked again as he closed his eyes. Sometimes his partner was just so transparent.

* * *

**Owari!**

**I didn't put enough love into it at the end...T.T **

**And I reaally am sorry this took so long! **

**To any of my other readers who are wondering when I will update my stories, SOON AND I MEAN SOON I PROMISE OMG I SHOULD HAVE IT OUT ALREADY I KNOW BUT I DONT AND IM SOOOOOO SORRY! **

**Yeah, I'm going to update _Times_ next. In fact, it will probably be the last chapter. And to those who are wondering, I do plan on redoing _Times_ one of these days but it needs a huge makeover that I just don't have the time for at the moment. So I'm going to end it so as not to leave you all hanging while I finish my other stories/projects and then get back to it when I have the time. :) Then I shall update _Mission Impossible_ which I KNOW is the one everyone is waiting for. SO DO NOT WORRY GOOD READERS! IT IS COMING ALL IN GOOD TIME! **

**I also have another oneshot that deals more with Obito and the Akatsuki coming out hopefully soon, along with another multi-chap fic that I will not disclose the contents of just yet, and I have a DeiKuro multi-chap coming out as well since my DeiKuro oneshot, _Haunted_, got so many good reviews/requests for more :)**

**Hooray for long author's notes xD**

**ANYWAYS, leave a review on this. Before I let my unicorns get you. Trust me, you don't want to see the unicorns. **

**~Ja ne**


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